Remington Model 870 Express Tactical A-Tacs Camo

Description

The Remington Model 870 Express Tactical A-Tacs Camo is a pump-action tactical shotgun chambered in 12 gauge. The M870 is a family of pump-action shotguns with a variety of hunting and tactical models. The A-Tacs has several interesting features starting with its digital urban camouflage finish, which is designed to absorb light, and a similar style to the US military’s desert cammies. It has a Ghost ring rear sight and a fixed blade front sight with a white dot. It has a short Picatinny rail for easy mounting and removing of scopes or sights, but it is also drilled and tapped for scope mounts. Other tactical features include a short 18.5″ barrel and a tactical choke. The choke is ported, which will lessen the recoil, and has rigid teeth, which is helpful for breaching doors.

Editor Review

The word ‘express’ gets thrown around a lot in the firearm’s business
and it seems to mean something different every time. An ‘express’ gun
or cartridge used to refer to one capable of higher than usual
velocities. Later, the term became standard for referring to weapons
designed to hunt exceptionally large or dangerous prey. Remington has
curiously opted to re-define the term as, ‘the cheap-o version of a more
expensive shotgun.’

Not that the 870 Express is a bad shotgun. But there is no getting around the fact that this is the lower-cost edition of the 870Wingmaster.
It is a pump-action shotgun available in both 12 and 20 gauge that is
well-suited for most knock-around types of shotgun hunting.

Less prone to rattling than the Mossberg
500 (its chief competition), the 870 Express is reasonably well-made
for the price. It is mechanically reliable, well-priced, and there are a
good number of after-market chokes and parts available to turn it into
anything from a turkey gun, to a slug gun for deer, or even a tactical
home defense rig. This reliability and flexibility have led to the 870
being literally the world’s best selling shotgun and it has been
adopted for use by police forces and militaries around the world.

The
870 Express is great for occasional use in shooting clays or upland
bird hunting. If you plan on shooting a lot of skeet or sporting clays
then there are better, more specialized tools out there. The 870
Express is something that you buy when you think that you might want to
do a little bit of almost everything and you don’t own any other
shotguns.

Yes, I said ‘almost’ everything. The 870 has a dirty
little secret, which is its alarming tendency to rust. If you stared
really hard at an 870 Express on a cloudy day and thought about water
then that would probably be enough. This is not something that you
could even consider taking out to hunt waterfowl. Nor even turkey on a
soggy day. I have taken a 20 gauge 870 express on a September dove hunt
in very high Southern humidity and watched the dark brown speckles
appear over the course of the afternoon. Water is the kryptonite to
Remington’s Superman.

If the rusting issue is a problem for you then you can either upgrade to a higher level of finish (the Marine Magnum
version is intended to resist even temporary salt-water immersion) or
look at some of the competing shotguns within the price range of the 870
Express. Rust issue aside, it’s a good gun and if you intend to keep
it dry then you could have many happy years together.